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Salad greens, like lettuce and spinach, grow quickly, and when you cut them, new ones form. Instead of sowing several seeds at the same time, plant a row every two weeks to provide a steady supply. Salad greens grow in full sun and most soil types are suitable. The seeds germinate in 1 week and the leaves are ready to harvest from 3 weeks. This project takes four weeks to complete.

Materials Needed:

planter

gravel

potting soil

salad greens seeds, like lettuce and spinach

kid-safe scissors

plastic milk jug

marker

Week 1: Prepare your planter

Put a thin layer of gravel in the base. Fill it with potting soil and water it well, then wait for the water to drain through, leaving the soil moist.

Wicker Garden Containers

Lined wicker baskets are used as garden containers for growing lettuce. After planting, water when needed.

Prevent pests

Cover your planter with fine mesh netting to protect the seedlings from pests such as birds, slugs and snails. This netting will also prevent butterflies from laying their eggs, which hatch into hungry caterpillars. To keep your planter away from slugs and snails, place it on a tabletop, a windowsill or even a couple of bricks, rather than putting it on the ground.

Week 4: Sow more seeds

After a further week, make another trench along the front of the planter and sow a third row. Thin the seedlings of the second row and continue to cut the leaves from the first row of plants. Keep the relay going, cutting small leaves when they're three or four weeks old, or, if you want larger leaves, cutting from four weeks onward.

Reseed Lettuce as Season Progresses

Harvest lettuce all year round

For a continuous supply through the summer, start a second planter. After a few croppings, replace the soil from the first planter so the relay can continue. It is important to keep your crops well watered, especially when the weather is dry, to prevent the plants from bolting (flowering and producing seeds).